Kick the bucket

Long time since I walked you through my word zone. Today, let us take up an idiom that I would ask you not to use. Sounds crazy!! True, but this is how you can learn and unlearn. By the way an idiom has an average of three words and to understand its meaning you need to treat all the words together. If you try to understand it word by word, the meaning is lost.

For example, ‘kick the bucket’. Literal meaning, (I mean word by word meaning) tells you to kick the bucket as you would kick the ball. If it is a bucket made of plastic and you are strong, the bucket breaks. Instead, if it is a steel bucket and you kick it out of anger, your leg breaks. Don’t tell me that Anil Kumble is good at that – leg breaks.

But, that is not what it means. It means something else. Kick the bucket means ‘die’. But, don’t use this idiom to convey someone has passed away. It sounds funny. Instead, say John’s uncle passed away. It’s a polite way of getting across the message.

By the way, do you know, how the idiom acquired this meaning? In olden days, when people wanted to commit suicide, they would keep the bucket upside down, stand on it, tie their neck to a rope connected to a hook or an object of that kind. Now to breathe their last, they would kick the bucket and they would have hanged themselves to death.

Are you one who likes to stay behind the screen?

I can understand most of us feel diffident when it comes to speaking in English. Diffident, what do you mean by that?

Now, imagine you are working in an office surrounded by a team of Americans. If you are not confident, you will withdraw yourself into a shell of your own. If someone asks you if the assigned job is done, you will be happy. You know why? All you have to say is 'yes' or a 'no'. If you fail to understand the question, you use your crown (head) to reply. You move it vertically, horizontally or in any direction as you may like to. And come back to work fearing that more questions may be thrown at you.

But, what if the question is not a 'yes' or 'no' type. If you feel shy, you will express pouting your lips. But, let me add a twist to the tale. There is an Indian girl sitting next to you. Will the confidence level go up? It has to. Is it not someway to impress her? In the end, your english grows like money plant. It gets better and better.

The girl might also feel the same, especially if both your hearts are locked in romance. And, if she is bold, she will never mind anyone knowing what both of you are up to. But, shyness-struck, she will create the dapper of rangoli on the floor with one of her toes. She may not know how to explain what she feels.

Does this help you understand what 'diffident' or 'diffidence' means? No. Come out of your shell and face the world boldly.